Hold On part 1
There's a saying that I like quite a bit that goes, "If you're at the end of your rope... tie a knot in it and hang on!" Another one says, "If you go down swinging, you might not go down at all." See the theme? Tough times don't last, but tough people do. And, as we're going to see in this Rant series, it's not my might, not by power, but by the Spirit of God! We think we're holding on to Him for dear life, but really He's holding onto us. He's holding us up! One of my favorite verses, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). He can, and will, keep you from falling. If you let Him. If you trust Him. If you STOP trying to hold on so hard, and just let go and let God. You can't control everything. You just can't. Most of the time it's more than enough to try to control ourselves--even though self-control IS a fruit of the Spirit. We have to get to the place where we trust God--LOVE--enough to let things be what they're going to be. And in that way we can find peace. Too much running around trying to force things to be exactly how we think they should be is too much. Look at Hebrews 3:6, my key verse for this Rant series, "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." He's the boss of His house. And we are His house. When we stop trying to overrule everything--man, I've never met people more willing to fight than "church folk"--we can start to enjoy some things. We can start to enjoy the journey. Because it's not the destination as much as it is the journey. If you're always just looking to the future and hoping things will get magically get better... well... "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life" (Proverbs 13:12). Always wanting something but never getting it is horrible. Awful. Painful. So I think one of the most important things to do is to want the right things. When the desire comes, it's a tree of life. Because the true desire of our heart IS the Tree of Life. What else could the heart desire but love? The heart is not interested in anything but love. Not concerned with anything but love. It's all about love. Love is what makes the world go 'round. Love is what makes life worth living. Love is what makes life possible to live. So if you're going to hold on to anything... hold on to love. And know, deep down inside, that love is holding on to you. Love will never let you go. Love never fails, because love endures. It doesn't matter what you're going through. Love will carry you through it. Love will keep you from falling. But you can't make love be something it's not. Love doesn't demand its own way. Love just loves. We can't make people be something they're not. We can just love them. Trust in love. Even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. Hold fast to the confidence and the rejoicing. That's so important. So key. Attitude of gratitude. But we'll get into all that. For today... you can hold onto love... because love is holding on to you!